This week, an open letter seriously questioned the City Pages music section's journalistic integrity and accused us of marginalizing female black musicians. This was a far more thought-out argument than the daily insults lobbed in our direction, and several prominent musicians in the community grabbed hold of it on social media.

For those unaware, the criticism stemmed from Sarah Stanley-Ayre's review of last Saturday's Tickle Torture show at the 7th St. Entry. In the story, our writer mistakenly identified unannounced special guest Ashley DuBose as Mina Moore, and Moore voiced her displeasure in the letter naming myself, Stanley-Ayre, and City Pages. I contacted Moore privately after seeing the letter, but here is a public response.

Bruce Dickinson rules. He's the greatest singer for one of the greatest bands of all time, Iron Maiden. But recently, he unleashed some pretty charged words in an interview with The Guardian. In addition to dropping one of the most incredible quotations ever, "fame is the excrement of creativity," he also said a few harsh words about punk rock, referring to it as rubbish and saying that the lack of talent in punk was an excuse to call it performance art. He goes on to state, "Half the kids that were in punk bands were laughing at the art establishment, going: 'What a fucking bunch of tosspots. Thanks very much, give us the money and we'll fuck off and stick it up our nose and shag birds.'"

Not totally untrue. The problem, however, lies in his words that immediately follow that thought:

"But what they'd really love to be doing is being in a heavy metal band surrounded by porn stars."

To condense a confused, under-sourced, strawman-filled article into its summarized form, Austerlitz claims that music critics' wider enthusiasm and advocacy for mainstream pop music -- as seen in a number of pieces that treat stars like Lorde and Beyoncé with something more respectful than retching contempt -- is "pernicious," "wildly distorted," and "really weird."

If Austerlitz's mission was to irritate the hell out of these poptimist critics, then a cursory scan of music-journalist Twitter feeds over the weekend proves he did a bang-up job. But if he meant to engage with the actual reality of pop-friendly music criticism as it exists right now, he might as well have finished every sentence with a "[citation needed]" -- that's how much of a misreading it was. And here's why.

Legions of angry parents were already up in arms when gangster rap arrived on the scene. After the 1985 PMRC Senate hearings helped institute "Parental Advisory" stickers, albums by Ice-T and N.W.A. were among the first to be branded. Since then, rap as a musical form has continued to take its lumps for what concerned onlookers deemed questionable content.

Many rappers, though frustrated with the America in which they had grown up, sought refuge in one of the most fundamentally American ideals: free speech -- an issue apparently unresolved, because 25 years later, rap lyrics are being used as evidence in criminal trials, and the New Jersey Supreme Court is set to weigh in on the issue.

The signs had been there for months, but it was only as 2013 neared its end that they became fully unavoidable. It was then, at the beginning of December, that Rhymesayers announced its latest signing -- and its first local one in what seemed like ages -- in the form of Prof. The Jameson-swilling problem child entered with his normal bravado, in an obscenity-laced video that featured a dig at Macklemore and came with the all-important blessing of Slug, who made his own cameo.

They could dress it up however they liked, but the subtext was clear: The rap game in the Twin Cities has changed dramatically, and even the mighty Rhymesayers is moving with the times.More »

The hottest musical trend in 2013 didn't have anything to do with music. Well, at least not with the world's biggest-selling artists and their major label henchmen -- the top one percent of the music biz, if you will. No, for them -- be it Jay Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail, Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, or Lady Gaga's ArtPOP extravaganza -- 2013 was all about creating a spectacle and hyping up every would-be blockbuster as a massive, can't-miss event.

But as far as trends go, the big-budget album launch wasn't a particularly good one. More often than not, these "events" were poor placeholders for albums that underwhelmed musically. And, more troublingly, they were the spawns of a spend-because-you-can mentality that priced most players right out of the game. In short, it ain't exactly good for the industry.More »

People still don't know what to do with M.I.A. As was the case last time around, the criticism of Maya Arulpragasam's fourth LP, Matangi, is predictably unforgiving. The reviews say
it's a typically frustrating piece, the work of an artist with a
persecution complex who can't control herself on Twitter and seems
hellbent on confounding her fans. For some, its supposed datedness, the absence of another "Paper Planes," and even a lack of spirituality have irreparably tainted this album.

Matangi is by no means perfect, but all of the "negatives" listed above can be spun to become quite attractive. This is yet another forward-thinking work by a musician who has never stood still. That it should be conflated so conveniently with Arulpragasam herself is unfair to both, if not even troubling. It suggests that we just aren't willing to let M.I.A. be right.More »

One year ago, my wife Ina and I posted our Ikea furniture on Craigslist, watched as four strong men packed up my studio gear, guitars and piano, hugged friends and family after my farewell concert in Minneapolis, and flew to Norway to begin our new adventure here. (Read about my reasons for leaving here.)

Since then I've received six Remicade infusions for my Ulcerative Colitis, and I'm happy to report I feel as healthy as I ever have. When I first arrived in Oslo last August, I didn't yet have a Norwegian social security number, so I felt no small measure of stress as I approached their health system as a new immigrant. The doctor I visited at the University of Oslo health clinic immediately understood that my treatment schedule merited a quick prioritization, so he made up a number for me, just to get me in the system. He assigned me to a private hospital (still covered under the national insurance plan), where they have lots of experience with the kind of treatment I get, and predicted I would be very satisfied with my care. He was right.

The Music Industry is a weekly column that dissects local and national
music-business headlines with the help of local industry professionals
and music fanatics.

This month, dark lords of alt-hip-hop Death Grips emerged from the shadows to thrill believers by leaking their latest album, NO LOVE DEEP WEB, online. The album's cover features a very NSFW shot of male genitalia with the title scrawled on it in Sharpie, and inside, the record follows a sweaty band of punks from Sacramento as they
commandeer the rap format and wipe the floor with their more commercial
counterparts in the process.

Supposedly, their label Epic Records wasn't in on the decision, and they
retaliated by pulling the band's website. Now, I'm a marketer by trade,
and I can smell strategy a mile away. So, when casually interested
bloggers and journos wondered timidly whether the Death Grips leak may
have been a setup, I had to laugh.More »

Well, by now you've probably all heard the news, and hopped on Twitter to express your approval and/or disdain for City Pages. (Or just yawned.) That's right: this week we unveiled the winners of Picked to Click 2012, which hit newsstands yesterday and pretty well changed our lives forever. You know, the popularity contest that local gatekeepers put on every year to promote their friends' music? The one that jinxes all those poor musicians?

Er, wait. Forget I said that last part.

All things told, though, P2C (or P2C2K12, if you're not into the whole brevity thing) is as much a chance to just have some plain old fun as it is anything else. So we could spend our time dissecting the results and figuring out what it all means -- what it really tells us about the music scene, circa 2012. Or we could, you know, pick out a few random facts from the voting and make fun of them. (Hint: that's what's about to happen.)